Multimedia programmer: Job description

A multimedia programmer gives a multimedia product its functionality by writing computer programs or creating websites that draw together multimedia features such as text, sound, graphics, digital photography, 2D/3D modelling, animation and video, according to a designer's specification.

Multimedia products work on particular 'platforms', predominantly the internet, as well as interactive television, information kiosks, DVDs, CD-ROMs, computer games consoles and mobile phones.

Programmers may come from a design or computing background, but the role demands a combination of both creative and technical skills.

The term multimedia is used interchangeably with other terms such as new media, interactive media, digital media and online/internet services. Similarly, as IT job titles and descriptions aren’t standardised, the work of a multimedia programmer may overlap with the role of a web developer or games developer, systems developer or software engineer.

Typical work activities

Programmers are involved at various stages of the system life cycle - initial analysis, implementation, integration, testing, debugging and support.

A programmer's role includes the following:

• working with the designer and other creative specialists to understand the design concept, and advising on how it can be implemented technically within constraints;
• sorting out operational logic and business rules necessary for the feature to be reproduced correctly according to the designer’s specification;
• writing efficient computer code or script to make the various features work, ensuring that sound, graphics, animations and timings function as intended and make good use of processing and data storage capacity;
• creating and linking databases to the user interface so that information can be retrieved, stored and processed interactively via the application;
• writing HTML or similar input and using authoring packages where appropriate to create content and effects;
• running tests of the application to identify bugs that need to be dealt with;
• solving problems by re-writing the code or adding new code that works around the problem;
• providing technical support to an application once it is running and making further adaptations, patches or rewrites to the code;
• researching and keeping abreast of emerging technologies in order to be able to deliver the most up-to-date solutions, including learning new programming languages or technologies.

The programmer works in a team with the designer and other specialists, such as animators, video producers and 3D modellers, who create the multimedia features. Because of the size and complexity of some applications, there may be several programmers working on one or more aspects of the application. In smaller projects, programmers may take on other roles, such as design and animation, depending on their expertise.

Programmers may become specialised in particular output formats, such as web applications, mobile technologies or interactive television, depending on their range of skills.